Heliotrope arborescens. 
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Heliotrope plant, botanically known as Heliotrope arborescens, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Naganoxe2x80x99.
The new Heliotrope is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Billerbeck, Germany. The new Heliotrope originated from a cross made by the Inventor of the Heliotrope cultivar Atlanta, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,326, as the female, or seed, parent with the Heliotrope cultivar Blue, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Nagano was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in 1997 in a controlled environment in Temming, Germany. The new Heliotrope was selected on the basis of its dark purple-colored flowers.
Asexual reproduction of the new Heliotrope by cuttings in Temming, Germany, since 1997, has shown that the unique features of this new Heliotrope are stable and reproduced true to type in successive propagations.
Plants of the new Heliotrope have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as temperature and light and fertilizer rates, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of plants of the new Heliotrope and differentiate plants of the new Heliotrope from other commercial Heliotrope cultivars:
1. Compact and mounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching, dense and bushy growth habit.
3. Early and freely flowering habit.
4. Dark purple-colored flowers.
5. Fragrant flowers.
Compared to plants ofthe parent cultivars, Atlanta and Blue, plants ofthe new Heliotrope are more compact and have darker colored flowers.